Doctor Who/Boom Town

Boom Town
Season 27, Episode 11
Airdate	June 4, 2005
Production Number	NCFR038W
Written by	Russell T. Davies
Directed by	Joe Ahearne
← 27x10 The Doctor Dances (2)	27x12 → Bad Wolf (1)
Doctor Who — Season Twenty-Seven

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Boom Town is the eleventh episode of the twenty-seventh season of Doctor Who, and the seven hundred thirtieth episode overall.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

The Doctor and his companions stop off in Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS, using the energy emitted by the scar over the rift in space and time that was shown in The Unquiet Dead. While they're there, they stumble across the last remaining member of the Slitheen family, Margaret.

When they confront Margaret, they realize she's behind plans to build a nuclear power station that will go critical as soon as it hits full capacity - when it explodes, she plans on using an alien device to ride the energy wave out of the solar system. The Doctor takes her captive instead and plans to return her home, where she claims she will be put to death for crimes her family was tried for and convicted of in their absence.

At her request, the Doctor takes Margaret out to dinner for a "last meal", where they discuss the ethics of what he's about to do. Meanwhile, Rose and Mickey (whom she has asked to come meet her) share a private moment together, and he admits that he's been seeing another girl. He expresses the betrayal he felt with Rose leaving, but he swears he's willing to wait for Rose for the rest of his life if she can give him even the slightest reason to believe she'd ever choose him over the Doctor.

In the middle of the dinner and moral debate, an earthquake seems to hit Cardiff, and the Doctor rushes back with Margaret to the TARDIS to discover that the rift is about to open. Rose runs back to the TARDIS as well, wanting to discover the source of the commotion, leaving Mickey behind.

In the TARDIS, Margaret reveals that it was all a trap, that she planned the entire thing from the beginning. She's about to make her escape when the ship's center console opens, and she gazes into the heart of the TARDIS. After a moment, she thanks the Doctor and seems to disappear, leaving her skin suit behind.

The Doctor, Jack, and Rose close the rift again and then realize that Margaret has not disintigrated - the TARDIS changed her back to an infantile (in this case, egg) state. They resolve to return her to her home planet, where she can relive her life and make a new choice about whether she'll be good or evil.

Rose remembers Mickey and runs back to where she left him, but she doesn't see him standing in the shadows, watching her. He turns to leave, and she returns to the TARDIS, where she makes an enigmatic comment about the appeal of second chances in life.

Notes

"Bad Wolf"

• The project being overseen by Margaret Blaine is titled "Blaidd Drwg" - Welsh for "Bad Wolf". This is also the first episode in which the Doctor realizes the phrase seems to be "following" them, but he dismisses it as mere coincidence.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Doctor and Rose begin to realize that there may be some importance to the words "Bad Wolf", though the Doctor dismisses it at this point as mere coincidence.

Characters

• For the first time since The End of the World, Rose seems to have some regrets about running off with the Doctor and leaving her life (and, in this episode, Mickey) behind.

Referbacks

• There are numerous references in this episode to the events of Aliens of London and World War Three - the two-part story arc that introduced the Slitheen family, of which Margaret was a member.
• While explaining the rift to Mickey, Rose and the Doctor refer to Gweneth and the events that happened in The Unquiet Dead.

Trivia

The Show

• This is the first time in the modern series of Doctor Who that the subject of the Doctor's morality is openly addressed. Margaret accuses him of causing destruction and then leaving before he's forced to face the consequences. She also accuses him of being a killer and points out that, by taking her back to her home planet, he'll be actively (and not merely passively) causing her death, and she repeatedly asks him if he'd really have the strength to do such a thing. Even the Doctor seems uncertain as to the answer.

Memorable Moments

• The TARDIS's main console opens and the "heart of the TARDIS" is seen.
• Mickey promises to wait for Rose for as long as it takes, as long as she can promise that, when she comes back, she'll come back for him. Before she can reply, an earthquake hits and she leaves him behind.

Quotes

• Captain Jack Harkness: Aw, sweet. Look at these two! How come I never get any of that?
  The Doctor: Buy me a drink first.
  Jack: You're such hard work!
  The Doctor: But worth it.
• Mickey Smith: I don't mind you hanging out with Big Ears up there.
  The Doctor: Oi!
  Mickey: Look in the mirror. But this guy, he's more, uh...
  Jack: Handsome?
  Mickey: More like cheesy.
• Mickey: That old lady's staring.
  Jack: Probably wondering what four people can do inside a small wooden box.
  Mickey: What are you captain of? The Innuendo Squad?
• The Doctor: Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap-bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now stop your nagging; let's go and explore.
• Margaret Blaine: (He) slipped on an icy patch.
  Cathy Salt: He was decapitated.
  Margaret: It was a very icy patch.
• The Doctor: And I was having such a nice day.
• The Doctor: Excuse me. Who's in charge?
  Jack: Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.
  The Doctor: Right. Here's the plan. (Pauses.) Like he said. Nice plan.
• The Doctor: Just go in there and tell her the Doctor would like to see her.
  Mayor's Aide: Doctor who?
  The Doctor: Just the Doctor. Tell her exactly that. The Doctor.
  Mayor's Aide: Hang on a tic. (Goes inside the Mayor's office. Glass shatters. He returns.) The Lord Mayor says thank you for...for popping by. She'd love to have a chat, but, um...she's up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week?
  The Doctor: She's climbing out the window, isn't she?
  Mayor's Aide: Yes, she is.
• Margaret: What did I ever do to you?
  The Doctor: You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet.
  Margaret: Apart from that.
• Margaret: We're in Cardiff. London doesn't care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice. Oh! I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native!
• Jack: Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?
  The Doctor: Couldn't have put it better myself.
• Rose Tyler: I've heard that before. Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times.
  The Doctor: Everywhere we go, two words, following us. Bad Wolf.
  Rose: How can they be following us?
  The Doctor: Nah. Just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the readio, then hearing it all day. Never mind!
• The Doctor: Don't worship me; I'd make a very bad god. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters.
• Margaret: Long night ahead. Let's see who can look me in the eye. (Looks at Mickey, Rose, and the Doctor. They all look away.)
• Mickey: You left me! We were nice; we were happy! And then what? You give me a kiss and you run off with him, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose! I was nothing! I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I comes running. I mean, is that all I am, Rose, standby? Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life waiting for you? Because I will.
  Rose: I'm sorry.
• The Doctor: It doesn't mean anything.
  Margaret: I spared her life.
  The Doctor: You let one of them go. But that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared. Because she smiled, because he's got freckles. Because they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaugher millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction...you happen to be kind.
  Margaret: Only a killer would know that.
• Mickey: It's the Doctor; it's always the Doctor! It's always gonna be the Doctor! It's never me!
• Margaret: Some date this turned out to be!
• The Doctor: Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart.
  Margaret: So sue me.
  The Doctor: It's not just any old power source. It's the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe.
  Margaret: It'll make wonderful scrap.
  Rose: What's that light?
  The Doctor: The heart of the TARDIS. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul.
• Margaret: Thank you.